《...is it Nick?》

Suddenly, Rachel's worried voice asked when she heard a voice on the other side of Eric's radio, who immediately answered the signal.

《He's alive!》  He screamed out loud thus attracting your attention, especially Jason's; he couldn't believe his comrade had survived the explosion that set the cocoons on fire...

《Hang tight Sergeant, we're on our way!》  Jason yelled back and all of you, including Salim, made your way to the mounds.

But in order not to be seen by the creatures that flew over your heads, your group split temporarily; Salim went with Jason to find Nick, while you, Rachel and Eric run in the direction of the entrance, where the elevator was waiting for you.

Thankfully, no vampires attacked you and your right leg didn't give out. That place was literally falling down and you were willing to do anything to make it, now that they would be back with Sergeant Kay, you all could have hoped to finally forget that shitty place!

Or was this what you thought before seeing the two figures of Jason and Nick join your group.

《Wait...where is Salim?》  Your eyes moved from them to below, towards the path you had just run, hoping to see the figure of Salim emerge...

But you couldn't see anyone and that increased your concern.  《W-we can't leave him behind, we have to go get him or he'll die!》

Just then, Jason got a call from Salim saying he was surrounded by vampires and for this he couldn't reach you, at least not alone...

Of course, everyone saw you two worried about the Iraqi soldier, but no one seemed to understand your words, as they remained silent and with their weapons lowered.

I get it now...they never trusted him at all, that's the hard shit truth!

《He's already a dead man, you better put your soul in peace with that, Lieutenant...and that man is not one of us, we need to go now before ends up like him!》

Eric was the first to reply with little sensitivity, and maybe also of humanity, but you tried to ignore it as much as you could; at that point, you looked at Jason for any support from him and his gaze seemed thoughtful, as if he were struggling with his own thoughts. And against his own duties.

But your attention returned to the voice on the other side of the radio.

《...》

《If I don't make it out...please, tell my son I did everything I could.》

Definitely, your heart broke in two when you heard those words come from Salim, a father who was desperately trying to get home to his boy, but that nobody wanted to fucking understand and your anger could just increase because of that...

Until you heard Jason cut him off abruptly.

《Tell him yourself. I'm coming to get you now, you hearing me Salim?》

Of course, you couldn't help but be relieved that he wouldn't leave him behind and a tear accidentally fell from your eye.

《Wait, I want to go with you Jason!》  You started, looking up at him with your doe eyes  《Please, Salim has done so much for me and I want to help you get him out of there!》

Though your noble intentions, Jason shook his head as he gently placed a palm on your shoulder.

《Sorry sweetheart, but not this time. You'd be in my way and this is the only way to keep you safe. Try to understand.》  Jason said quietly, hoping you understood him, but when he pulled his arm back to turn away, you stopped him again with both arms.

《You know very well I'll be safe just with you. And not without you.》  You insisted and Jason stared at you closely, so beautiful and stubborn like always, before closing his eyes and looking in his friend's direction just then.

《Take her out of here. It's an order.》

After a short silence and without you being able to foresee that, Nick picked you up from behind and put you on his shoulders, leaving you unable to react.

《H-hey, put me down immediately! You heard me Sergeant?!》  But Nick didn't say a word and just walked towards the exit, along with Rachel and Eric.  《I swear you— JASON!!!》

The last thing you saw was a distant smile under his cap, before turning his back on you and his comrades to save not just a soldier from another country, as others thought...but also a friend, and Jason swore he would never leave another one behind...

Marine's word.

• • •

Nick put you down when reached the elevator whispering a quick "sorry" at you, while Rachel was busy aiming the gun at the free entrance, making sure that no one had followed you.

《Kolchek's crazy, how could he go back for...he's just an Iraqi.》  Eric grumbled about Jason's bad choice to go back and save Salim, but you did the same as him, now tired of his attitude and of hearing him complain every time.

《That "Iraqi" has a name and, just like us, he wants to go home, away from all this shit. Where is the problem, anyway?》

Eric couldn't believe your words and started laughing nervously, sure you were completely freaked out.

That's it. Not all men are bad, just like they're not all good. Definitely, Eric and Salim should switch positions in this fucking moment...

《Maybe you don't remember that, thanks to men like him, we have to do everything to avoid another disaster like the one two years ago. And thanks to them, many of our soldiers died today and it's always thanks to them that we ended up in this absurd situation! Think before you speak, Y/n Hale, before you can regret it–》

《For fuck's sake Eric, stop that right now! It's not the time to think about this if not survive!》  Suddenly, Rachel silenced her husband and nodded in your direction and Nick's just then, still with a severe expression on her face.

Thanks to that, Eric said nothing more and stared at his wife even after she yelled at him, if Rachel had seriously given him a chance to start over, he didn't have to risk losing her that way...and whatever he was thinking, you didn't matter in the slightest, as there was only Jason in your thoughts, along with the hope of seeing Salim again and the more time passed, the more your anxiety grew.

But right there, you thought you heard the noisy, hurried footsteps of some boots, before your eyes saw some silhouettes...

《Fuck, it's them! They're really coming back!》  Nick suddenly shouted and there, you realized that you hadn't dreamed and had really seen Jason and Salim running towards you.

Without stopping, they rushed with you into the elevator to get the hell out of that damn place and in that moment, just the echoes of their voices were heard through the cave.

《Eh. Takes more than a few bats to kill you.》  Nick said as he pounded his fist with Jason's, while Salim was breathing next to him, after getting over all those fucking alien vampires.

《Man, that was un-fucking-believable! Those things were all over us, but me and Salim busted through them like it was the last down of the goddamn Super Bowl!》

Right here, you could see the satisfaction and excitement in Jason's eyes when he said that, as well as in Salim's smile. Sure, you didn't know how many times he had warned the marine not to come and not to leave your side to help an Iraqi soldier, but when he got something in his head, well, that bratty jarhead didn't want to listen to anyone...and while he thought about it again, Salim couldn't help but be really grateful to him for helping him get out of there alive.

Anyway, it wasn't long before Jason looked for you and when saw you appear from a corner of the elevator, his lips formed a big smile. And you did the same, of course, as you just couldn't be mad at him, even after he let Nick carry you away just like a sack of potatoes...and now that you thought about it, it made you giggle a little.

《I'm so happy to see you again.》  Of course, your words and smiles was also for Salim and, to your surprise, Jason wasn't so bothered by it...or at least, he was trying to stay cool in front of others.

《...listen up. We're not out of the woods yet. But what I see in front of me, you're the best.》  He started telling his entire group  《Fuck that, the best of the best. And we will get home.》

There, Jason, Nick and also Eric said the same "Oorah!" you had heard before and this time you and Rachel made yourselves heard right after them too, hoping not to sound too awkward, but Jason was delighted to watch you mimic his arm gesture.

So, Salim was the only one left.

《Hey, it's your turn now.》  You said giving a quick pat to his upper arm but just getting an embarrassed look from the Iraqi one  《Come on, just said it!》

Salim exchanged a couple of glances with both you and Jason, and not seeing him object about it, he took a deep breath in front of you all.

《...oorah?》

Of course, you restrained yourself from laughing at what must have been a shout of victory. On the contrary, Jason chuckled in his face and Salim repeated it again, this time with an unexpectedly different tone of earlier.

Woah, I think he'd look pretty good as a Marine too...!

You thought to yourself, avoiding being discovered by the cap boy next to you, even if his hawk's eye was already on you...definitely, nothing escaped him.

When you finally left the elevator, you started running towards the caverns. The tremors hadn't stopped and just at that moment some rocks began to fall in front of you. Well, after all you had been through, you didn't want to be crushed under there just now!

Two people at a time, you started climbing the rope; Rachel and Salim were the first ones, followed later by Eric and Nick. But when it came to you and Jason's turn, you just stopped to stare at the waterfall in front of you.

What was that noise just now?

But there was nothing in that moment and Jason told you to start climbing, when a growling voice echoed inside the cave...you had just tightened the rope around your fingers and instantly turned to see someone running towards you; of course, Jason stepped in the middle with the rifle pointed at the unknown target.

At first glance, it appeared to be a human female vampire and her aggressiveness was just like of Joey's.

《Holy shit!》  You heard him swear as he pointed the rifle at that familiar face  《Get the fuck out of here Y/n!》

With one quick move, Jason had managed to position himself behind the vampire to immobilize her, with both hands pressed against the other's head to hold her still, despite that unexpected strength...for your part, you stared in disbelief when you saw Clarice's gray, lifeless face, as she stared at you with monstrous eyes, long fangs protruding from her bloodstained mouth...

Unfortunately for her, she had ended up that way too and there was nothing you could do to help her but remove all her suffering, before she was the first to do it to you. Or to Jason.

You heard her growl again, now face to face with the marine; for his part, Jason tried to retrieve his knife, but Clarice stopped him and with a strong push she managed to knock him to the ground, under your incredulous and frightened eyes.

JASON!

But when you tried to reach him, another earthquake made the floor and walls of the cave shake so suddenly...you could hear the others' voices calling you a few meters above, but they couldn't see what was going on and didn't come down to help you. If you hadn't gotten out of there soon, you two would've risked being buried under there for real!

《I'll take care of it. Just go Y/n!》  Jason was able to scream at you, sure to keep the vampire at bay, but still worried about your safety; you just heard him grind his teeth as he tried to keep Clarice away from him.

《Do you fuckin' hear me!? Think about saving yourself now!》

Of course, you couldn't do anything of what he asked, because you had to do something to help him. So, you took your gun to shoot her head but you couldn't, not when she was inches from him, as she tried to bring her lousy mouth closer to his neck, wanting to bite into that exposed part just below his chin...

But surely, the thing that pissed you to death was when she had thrown herself on top of him.

Oooh hell no! Don't even try, you fucking bitch!

In a couple of seconds, you sprinted in their direction and with extreme precision, you kicked Clarice hard on her temple just to roll her whole body away from Jason's and in front of the precipice; you didn't even give her time to get up, because you pressed your left boot against her chest, ignoring her threatening growls at you and the sudden grip on your leg.

Without thinking twice, you pointed the gun at her forehead, sure that the parasites took control of the victims through their brains and fired the first shot, which didn't seem to have much effect, so you pulled the trigger several times until all shots were gone and the body under you finally stopped moving.

Right there, you made her a big mess and your hand and body didn't stop shaking because of that; eventually, it was Jason's touch that brought you back into your senses.

《Holy fuckin' shit, that girl just didn't know how to stay dead, huh?》  He muttered next to you as he pulled you away from Dr. Stokes' corpse.  《Remind me not to get you pissed off sweetheart, don't want to end up like her!》

Jason said almost jokingly, before lowering your gun and making you look up at him; with his thumb, he quickly pulled away a drop of vampire blood on your left cheek.

《I'd never do that. Not today at least...》  You smiled innocently with your lips slightly parted, a gesture that immediately caught his attention.  《And I saved ya again Lieutenant, I really think I deserve a small reward...》

After that, you headed for the rope with him, who stood staring at you curiously. Despite your bad habit of not listening to him, he had to sincerely thank you for what you did, once again, for him.

《Oh don't worry Miss Marshal, if we survive the next one too I'll give you everything you want.》  He said at your feet, as he pulled himself up on the rope after you and once you joined the rest of the group, you tried to put aside Jason's teasing words inside your head.

《Why did it take you so long? What happened down there?》  Rachel asked both of you noticing your astonished expression and the multiple red scratches on the First Lieutenant's arms.

《Just a small hiccup. It's fine now, she won't follow us up here.》  Jason just shrugged, but when mentioned Dr. Stokes' name later, you clearly saw Rachel go white.

Of course, she knew something.

《It's my fault. I never should've let her behind, but she was turning in front of me...I had no choice but to leave her there.》  The caramel woman said looking down, until she noticed the fresh blood on your face and on your right hand and understood what you had done.

And what she hadn't done.

But it wasn't the right time to regrets, because you had to think about how to get out of the caves and to go up the catacombs, paying attention to the stone that fell over your heads. Anyway, when you reached the main hall of the temple, the collapse of the ruins had revealed to you an opening just above the big statue in the center, as you were able to see some beams of sunlight coming in from the outside.

It's our way out!

You kept to climb towards the top of the temple with your group moving in single file, Eric leading it and Salim closing it; due to the constant tremors, you suddenly lost your balance on the stone, but luckily Jason was behind you, ready to catch and support you anytime.

Then, you reached a giant rocky hand and as you and Jason helped Salim climb up there, Rachel threw a grappling hook beyond the opening, so taking the last steps towards your longed-for goal...the surface.

• • •

Your nails filled with dust as you clung with both hands around that rocky ledge. Rachel helped you pull yourself up, so that you were completely out of there and stayed on your knees for a few seconds to let your lungs get used to the fresh air again. Finally.

As the other soldiers made it, you looked up and immediately recognized the view of the Zagros Mountains and the shepherds' houses in front of you. That's what it was, you thought turning towards the chasm, the same one you had discovered a few hours ago, during the raid, when nothing had happened yet and where you would never have thought to come out right from there!

《W-we made it!》  You heard Rachel's voice say suddenly and with a big smile on her lips  《Soak up those rays guys, soak it all up!》

In that moment, you dared to look at the sun and immediately covered your eyes with a forearm, of course, after all that time spent in the dark, but you stayed there, enjoying all that warmth on your skin and believing there was nothing more beautiful than that now; without noticing it, tears of joy rolled on your face, not so sore like earlier anymore.

Tell me if this isn't happiness...

For their part, Nick laid down on the ground with a final thud, followed later by Jason, who just sat down with a happy expression on his dirt face, letting out all the shit he had breathed in that hell hole.

《...we got two alive, very fuckin' ready to go home marines here!》  Kolchek pointed out and Nick couldn't help but agree with him, as he proudly raise a thumb in the air, causing you and others a short but cheerful laugh.

Right here, Salim exchanged a look of agreement with Eric, who surprisingly returned, before looking at your standing figure a few steps away from him and with your eyes temporarily closed, clearly in a position of total rest...well, until you opened them almost immediately, when you noticed someone was approaching and covering you from the morning sunlight.

And you smiled sweetly when you saw it was your soldier.

《Hey. Do you think there's something more beautiful than that?》  You said simply as you admired the Iraqi sunrise and the cloudless blue sky, in contrast with that golden, peaceful desert, spreading all around you...you swore you hadn't seen anything like this before and all that natural brightness had literally blinded your sight.

But Jason seemed distracted looking away, definitely your eyes were shining with a new and wonderful light that was impossible not to look at, not for him at least...anyway, you blushed suddenly when you saw him staring at you intensely for all that time.

If there was anything more beautiful than that? Hell, of course there was and it was just right there, beside him...definitely, Jason was mesmerized by your vision, but as soon as he realized you were watching him too, he abruptly turned his head away, now letting you unintentionally show his red ears.

You just smiled and tilted casually your head to the side, to peek at what looked like unexpected freckles on his left cheek and your smile just got bigger for how cute they were on him!

《S-stop staring at me like that, give me a fuckin' break!》  Jason grumbled nervously as he tried to escape your gaze, but that made you have more fun.

《A break, huh? You should listen to yourself when you speak, Lieutenant Kolchek, because it's since we fell down there that you haven't stopped teasing me!》  After that, you moved in front of him defiantly  《And it's always you who told me those things when we were about to die, so take your—》

Suddenly, your voice was abruptly interrupted by a pair of thin lips, as a pair of thick arms wrapped around your waist tightly to make your differently tall bodies collide against each other.

《Talk too fucking much to be so terribly small, you know that?》

Seeing yourself unable to reply, you wrapped your arms around his neck, finally taking back the kiss and despite the other cap's visor in the way; Jason caught the opportunity to lift you a few inches off the ground, putting you exactly where he wanted to see nothing but you, smirking against your soft lips when he felt your leg crawl up onto his like an adorable little monkey.

《By chance, were you jealous when Clarice came on me?》  The cap boy dared to ask you once the kiss was broken, gaining another redness from your face.

《Of course not, why on earth should I be jealous of a vampire?》  You slyly replied by raising an eyebrow, trying to hide as much as possible the fact that you were jealous of an idiot like him and Jason just chuckled, taking your answer for granted and confirming your previous suspicions about his dumbness.

And still, you couldn't stop thinking about this man.

Meanwhile, Rachel was smiling genuinely in front of your funny intercourse, but she had to scold Nick's jokes with a warning nudge on the arm just then, because he hadn't stopped whistling annoyingly at his friend; on the contrary, Eric seemed to feel uneasy, noticing how wrong he was and how serious Jason really was towards you.

And you in the same way as him. He couldn't believe you really fell in love with that marine and to forget about it, Colonel King turned away to use the radio and call the air support, hoping it would come soon...

As for Salim, he decided to move his gaze to the horizon behind your close figures, waiting to experience the same felicity that jarhead was feeling with his lovely girl right now, as soon as he would've hugged his beloved son.

Well, if the sun wasn't suddenly covered, of course, leaving each of you in the darkness...and what was about to happen again.

• • •

You didn't want to believe it was true, just like you thought you would never hear that growl for the rest of your life. But seemed it couldn't be, at least not yet.

Apparently, the discovery of the solar eclipse wasn't just an unexpected event, but also downright dangerous, as vampires were able to escape from their underground lair because of it; although for a limited period of time, you were shocked by the idea that they could put their paws out in your topside world, whenever it was no longer protected from daylight.

《Inside! Get inside, NOW! If we stay out here, we die!》  This time, Rachel's voice warned you of the threat flying towards you; with weapons in hand, Jason pulled you with him in the opposite direction, running together to the nearest shepherd's hut.

The house was empty and definitely an easy target because of all those openings in the walls and windows and so your group used everything there was available to barricade inside...and while you were doing that in front of a broken door, a vampire suddenly tried to attack you through the hole, but Salim ran to your aid just in time to hit it repeatedly with his stake in the face.

《A-at this rate, they'll break inside!》  You screamed as you positioned yourself in the center of the room, casually bumping into one of your teammates, which turned out to be Nick.

《The eclipse! How long is it before—》

But you stopped talking when a crash above your head made you look up at the ceiling, making eye contact with one of those creatures. With a quick snap, Nick instinctively pushed you away, but because of that he fell into the sights of the enemy, which grabbed him with its hind paws.

Oh shit!

In that instant, you grabbed his leg to try to hold him down, but your weight wasn't enough and before the creature flew out with both of you, Jason and Eric freed you and Sergeant Kay from the monster's grasp.

《Did you seriously do that!? What the fuck Y/n!》  When you stood up, Kolchek gave you a quick glance that you had to ignore, even if you heard his words loud and clear.

...are you making such a scene just because I tried to help one of your men?? Please Jason, stop underestimating me!

You thought as you pointed your gun every time you heard another click.

《Fuck! I'm almost out!》  Suddenly, Rachel said aloud that had almost run out of bullets and the same was for Eric, since he hadn't stopped shooting since you stepped in the house.

《Anyone got any more bright ideas?》

Just then, Colonel King turned to look at the ground, where he thought he had seen some ammunition boxes earlier and went to pick them up...but when he opened them, he just found flares inside them.

《What!? And where's the ammo?》  There, Rachel shook her head, incredulous that simple shepherds had guns in their homes but a fucking supply of flares instead of bullets! But unlike her, you thought they would be useful against light-fearing creatures.

《Never mind. We can use the light to keep them away while the eclipse ends!》  You answered firmly, taking a couple of flares with you. Rachel was hesitant, but then she saw her husband and the other soldiers doing the same thing and she took one too, as she armed herself with a knife in the other palm.

Six minutes. You had to hold out for just six, long minutes and while you waited for your vampire guests to come in, you all gathered in a circle to have your own backs covered by the others; once again, you were standing next to Jason and when you met his eyes, you couldn't help but be afraid...

Afraid of losing him.

《W-whatever happens, you must know that...》

That you're not indifferent to me? That I like you? That I love you more than I ever thought?

Well, who knew what you meant, since Jason stopped you before you could say it.

《Whatever it is, you'll tell me when we're done here!》  But then, Jason looked up seriously at the red flames dancing in front of your faces  《Just– just don't let that fuckin' flare snuff out for any reason, okay?》

In that moment, you said something he couldn't understand, as the growls of the monsters drowned out every other sound inside the house when they attacked you, except your battle cries...except your crazy heartbeats.

Right there, you didn't stop looking at the threatening creature before you, as if it were a slow motion scene and for its part, the vampire didn't stop growling in your face, as if he would already have guessed which of you would win...

But you dared a smile.

You'll see, "demon". Soon, you'll find out who the whirlwind really is between us!